Dean's Bracelet is a Lot Like a Wedding Ring
by luvtheheaven
Summary: Lane/Rory scene from 3x04 "One's Got Class and the Other One Dyes" where Lane brings up the subject of Dean. I added Rory's thoughts. Just a short one-shot. I hope you all enjoy it.


**Author's Note:**

_I've literally written this 3 times now. It's so different each time I rewrite it haha, I can never remember what I wrote before. I hope it's still good. I didn't have to rewrite the whole thing but enough of it that I'm VERY frustrated at my laptop for continuing to crash right after I've written the first non-transcription part and before I had a chance to save it, and my document recovery always only saving the transcription part in the beginning before Rory really begins thinking lol. My computer kept losing power because it was overheated I'm pretty sure. It's okay now though (well... I hope haha). It was just supposed to be a short little one-shot without much effort going into it, I am not even getting it beta-ed because I don't think it's needed. It's just that I had this on my mind and wanted to share my thoughts and why I tend to like to include this scene in my Dean/Rory/Jess fanvideos, usually zooming in on the bracelet. Like at 0:57 in this one:_

_Rory Gilmore Tribute - Drops of Jupiter_

_youtubeDOTcom/watch?v=LMHLjMgUDoA (I used it for the lyric "to see... that heaven is overrated")_

_or in my "Your Love is a Lie" Dean/Rory/Jess vid during an instrumental part. _

_The scene is actually a funny one that has a goof, because in some of the takes, Alexis was wearing her prop of Dean's bracelet, and in other takes she wasn't, and the editors obviously mixed the multiple takes together to make it seem like it was all the same conversation using their editing magic. ;) But the bracelet disappearing and reappearing becomes a noticeable goof, and I find it particularly funny that out of all scenes for it to happen in, it's this one, since Dean comes up in the conversation and the bracelet is so significant in the whole Dean/Rory/Jess saga... so now whenever I see this scene I can't help but think about the bracelet. And I wanted to write a brief oneshot about the bracelet for you all. Take it or leave it. I know I said it's Rory/Dean in my fanfiction DOT net categorization (I hate that you can only pick 2 characters for that, by the way) but honestly the only two characters that appear in this are Rory and Lane – and then Dean and Jess are both significant in Rory's thoughts. I thought the scene is more about Dean and his bracelet than about Jess (or Lane) which is why I said it's Rory/Dean. I'm a Literati shipper, so I'm sorry to any Narco fans who might not like this, but I did try to be true-to-the-show. I have nothing against pre-Lindsay Dean. I feel bad for him. ;) _

_By the way I will be trying to finish up my "Just For You" Jess/Luke (and Jess/Rory Luke/Lorelai) fic soon, I swear. I just lost most of my inspiration for it, and I want it to have a good ending. Plus I've been really busy with school and my YouTube account getting deleted (I'm luvtheheavenAGAIN now haha). I've been re-uploading my videos like crazy this past week. _

_I also just became a beta for Keiko Noriko's "You've Got Mail" fic, which I do recommend you check out, it's Future Literati and only 2 chapters to catch up on. ;) _

_So now enjoy this brief one-shot. The dialogue is my own word-for-word transcription of a scene in 3x04 "One's Got Class and the Other One Dyes". The whole one-shot is supposed to be totally canon. Please review and let me know what you think! ;)_

"I'm in love with him," Lane finally admits.

"I _know_," Rory replies in a cutesy high-pitched voice, smiling with happiness for her friend. She continues painting Lane's hair with the purple dye.

"Is it that obvious?" Lane asks.

"Only to a guy with sunglasses and a dog selling pencils."

"He's so cute."

"Definitely cute."

"And _smart_, you know? That's such a rare package; it's usually one or the other."

"It's wrong, but that's the way it usually is," Rory agrees.

"It just _increases_ the amount of competition for the Daves of the world."

"You're rare too, don't forget."

"I've never really felt this way before," Lane says. "I mean Henry, yes, but we never spent any _real _time together. It's not just puppy love, you know, it's _different_, I mean, I get butterflies in my stomach when I think about him. And when I call him, to work out times for band practice, the ring of his telephone gets me really excited. And last week, someone said 'Dave' at school; it wasn't even about my Dave, and I almost lost it I got so shaky."

"_My_ Dave, that's so cute."

"Stop it."

"This sounds like love to me."

"It does, doesn't it? My first love. Wow," Lane says excitedly.

"Yeah, wow," Rory , still beaming with happiness for her friend.

"I finally have a first love," Lane says in realization, dragging out her pronunciation of each word. "Like what you and Dean have."

Rory's smile fades. She's glad Lane's back is turned to her right now so that it's not obvious that no, Rory does not think that this is what she and Dean have, at least not anymore. She had been trying desperately to only think of Lane and Dave for this whole conversation so far. She didn't want to apply what Lane was saying to herself, because she knew what she'd find. When Rory is around _Jess _she feels those same butterflies that Lane just described. Her ears perk up at any mention of _his_ name, and when Lane said that being both cute and smart was such a rare combination: well her mind immediately went to Jess, and she couldn't even stop herself from mentally amending the statement slightly. After all, Jess is more than cute.

"Right," Rory awkwardly replies after too long of a pause, hoping that it doesn't sound too feigned. She forces a smile as she walks over to dip her brush into more purple hair dye. "Exactly".

"Of course, I don't _exactly _have what you and Dean have," Lane continues, oblivious to Rory's internal conflict, "because you love Dean and Dean loves you _back_." Rory stirs the dye nervously, thinking about how Lane already knows she loves Dave, but Rory couldn't even say she loved Dean back to him when he'd first said it on their three-month anniversary. Three months from when he'd first given her that bracelet, and when, in Dean's words, he'd "figured this whole thing kinda started." And he was right, that was when it'd started. Lane rambles on, "In my situation, I love Dave, and Dave thinks that I have a decent sense of rhythm." Now, Rory notes mentally, it'd been almost 2 whole years that she and Dean been dating, not counting their brief time broken up. And somehow, her feelings had slowly started to change for Dean. When Dean had first given her that bracelet, she truly did love it, and had wonderful feelings towards Dean for the thoughtful homemade gift. He'd put it on her that night, and she'd worn it constantly ever since. When she broke up with Dean briefly, taking it off had been so symbolic to her, and her bare wrist had felt so naked.

Rory tries to ignore what Lane's saying about her and Dean. It's bothering her so much more than it should. Focusing on the task at hand, she gets a good amount of dye onto the brush and moves back to Lane's head. "Don't move, you'll drip," she says, her lack of enthusiasm for the current conversation evident in her voice.

"God you're so lucky," Lane continues, still oblivious to Rory's feelings. "To love a guy, who actually knows you love him, and who loves you back? That's got to be the best feeling ever." Rory doesn't even pretend to agree anymore, thinking about her bracelet that is still on her left wrist, and how she didn't even notice when it had been missing from her wrist many months ago. Rory just ignores her and continues to talk about Lane's hair.

"I think this purple's gonna look good."

Lane sighs, saying, "I want that." She's still in her own conversation about love and talking mainly to herself now. "I want that really bad."

"You'll have that," Rory quickly replies with frustration, willing the topic to be over already. "You will have your perfect first love, and second love, and any other love you want," she continues, pausing to catch her breath, "because you're great and... purple heads will not be denied." She wishes it didn't come out in quite that tone. She sounded almost angry despite the words themselves being kind. Rory truly does wish the best for her friend and think she and Dave have a great chance of being cute and happy and in love together. It's just... she wishes she did feel that way about her first 'love' still. But her feelings of love seem to have disappeared.

"Now _that_ should have been put on the box," Lane says in reply to Rory's comment.

Rory sighs, glad that Lane is back to talking about the task of dying her hair. She hopes the topic is over for now. "Okay, now. Head down, please," she says, continuing to paint streaks of purple.

Rory realizes that her bracelet is a lot like a wedding ring, a reminder to herself more than anyone that she is _taken_. Although she knows Jess has glanced at it from time to time too, and he knows very well that it was a present from Dean. It was so special to her when Dean first put it on for her, much like an engagement or wedding ring would probably be. However, when it had somehow gotten under her bed and she didn't notice it was missing from her wrist for who knows how long, it was a scary and painful reminder of how infrequently she had been remembering her commitment to be with Dean. Sure it wasn't marriage, but they were in a monogamous relationship. Kissing Jess right before Sookie's wedding ceremony, _while_ wearing the stupid bracelet... that certainly felt the way adultery must feel. She feels so guilty not telling Dean about the kiss. Every time she kisses Dean now, (which, granted, hasn't been all that frequently ever since she kissed Jess,) she thinks about how she is being untruthful. But that bracelet is an added reminder. Every time it itches her skin, or the medallion clanks against her desk as she tries to take a test at school, she has an urge to take it off. But she can't. She knows it symbolizes her relationship with Dean, and taking it off... she just refuses to even consider going there. And so she doesn't. And the bracelet stays on, no matter what. She loves Dean. He has been perfect to her. And she does really appreciate that. She does. She can't bring herself to hurt him. He doesn't deserve it. So she can't think about Jess. And she never _ever_ can tell him about the kiss. Dean's bracelet will stay on forever.


End file.
